INT: Joe Johnston

Sneaking into theatres this week is HIDALGO,
based loosely on the life of Frank T. Hopkins, a Pony Express
courier who became the first American to win the worlds longest
endurance horse race, the Ocean of Fire in the Arabian Desert.

Helming the film is veteran director Joe Johnston, whose past
efforts include HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS, THE ROCKETEER and JUMANJI.Johnston got his start doing visual effects for George Lucas
on first STAR WARS trilogy (you know, the one that doesnt suck),
and is credited with inventing Yoda.Unfortunately, he is not, as it was once widely rumored, the
inventor of Greedo.Nevertheless,
inventing Yoda is still a fine accomplishment. I got a chance to
talk with Joe recently at the St. Regis Hotel in Los Angeles about
his latest effort, HIDALGO, opening this Friday.

JOE
JOHNSTON

What
made you want to direct this movie?

Well, I could give you the silly answer and say I really
needed the money, but...films like this are pretty rare, especially
these days.To get a
commitment from the studio to do it right and to really invest the
time and money to make what feels like a sort of old-school, classic
action/adventure film, was something that was pretty hard to pass
up.

I
really enjoyed the cinematography.How
were you able to achieve that look, given how difficult the
conditions can me in Morocco?

Morocco is a beautiful country to start with, but when you go
to a place like that, not knowing what to expect, and you get out
there with a 2.35 format, a widescreen format, the country just sort
of presents itself to you.You
see chances to do things that you hadnt even planned to do, and
it really changes what you planned.What
I learned on this one is that you, if you have a vision  which is
ok  you need to keep it flexible because, when you get there,
things are gonna change.The hardest thing was, you could shoot in the morning, and
then you knew if you got a sandstorm in the afternoon, youd have
to shoot something else and put aside what you shot in the morning,
hoping you could finish if the next day.

So,
was that the most challenging part of making this film?

The elements in Morocco were probably the most challenging.We had a solid script  we tweaked it  but we had a
story with a beginning, middle and end.And Ive been on movies where we didnt know what we were
shooting next weeks because the writer hadnt written the pages
yet.Fortunately, on this
one, we knew at least what we would like to shoot the next week.If we hadnt had a script, if we had a bunch of primadonna
actors, and the conditions in Morocco, wed probably still be
there.

This
movie has the feel of The Rocketeer a little bit. Like an old-time
adventure.

Well, it is an old-time adventure film.And thats one of the things that appealed to me about it.
Especially if you factor in that were going to take Viggo
Mortensen, Omar Sharif to some of these locations where they shot
Lawrence of Arabia, and 100 horses and all this great wardrobe and
this great story. You know, it becomes something thats almost
impossible to pass up. I wasnt anxious to go back to work after
Jurassic Park 3. It had been about six months. I was still in
recuperation. [laughs] Casey Silver sent me a copy of this, and he
said, Ive got this great script I want you to read, and I
said, I dont want to go back to work. He said, Im not
going to pitch it to you, Im not even going to tell you what
its about. Just read it. So it sat on my desk for about 3
weeks and I didnt want to look at it, because I was afraid Id
like it. And I started reading it and I, you know, I couldnt put
it down. I called and I said, Damn you! [laughs] I didnt
want to go back to work but I couldnt pass it up.

It
seems like the movies that take your time are never made anymore.

Personally, I like to watch movies where I have to pay
attention.And I know that
some people dont like to have to pay attention. But I find that
when I know Im going to be told something three or four times,
Im not going to miss it. I get a little bit bored, and I feel
like OK, I know I dont have to pay attention. Theyre going to
tell me again, and again, and again.I think if an audience knows, Id better watch this.Id better keep in mind who this guy is, how he relates to
the movie. Then people tend to stay a little bit more interested.

What
was it about Viggo that appealed to you when casting this film?Was he your first choice?

He was either my first choice or he was on a very short list.I dont remember considering anybody else.I hadnt seen the first Lord Of The Rings when we cast
Hidalgo, but the character Viggo played in Walk On The Moon, he
seemed to be hiding something  there seemed to be a darker, more
mysterious side to him.And
thats Frank Hopkins.

What
about working with Omar Shariff?

I was pretty amazing, really.It was a little bit intimidating just to think about it, before I
ever met him.We were going
to Morocco with Omar Shariff, back to where they shot Lawrence of
Arabia.But I met Omar and we
talked about the character a little bit.Hes just the nicest guy, the warmest individual you ever
met.And on the first day of shooting, he said, Tell me what you want
me to do.Hes the most
directable actor Ive ever met.In
Morocco, almost every night for 13 weeks, he would reserve a table
for ten at the local restaurant.And
he would never invite anybody to dinner, but he would order about
six bottles of wine and put them on the table.People would walk by, cast and crew would walk by, and he
would say, Come over and join me.And within a few minutes he would have a table full of people and
he would start telling a story about Lawrence of Arabia.And then other people would see the story in progress and
they would pull up a chair.Pretty
soon there would be 20 people at the table.And this would go on for hours.I had dinner with him 10 or 12 times, and I never heard the
same story twice.

A
big part of the story is about people coming to terms with their own
identity and background.

Thats the heart of the story. I mean, the story of Frank
is that hes denying who he is, and has been for most of his life.
And coming to terms and discovering who he is because of this thing
he goes through. I mean, thats something thats basic to human
nature and its something we can all relate to, hopefully. That
story should work if you take it completely out of context and put
it in any genre, any kind of film. It doesnt have to be this big,
epic action-adventure film for that kind of story to work.

Viggo
has gone from actor to star in the course of the making of this
film

Just dont call him a star.

Not
to his face.

Youll insult him. [laughs]

Viggo
said that one of the scariest scenes with the horses was when all
the Arabians were getting ready for the race.

It was the most complicated, because we had just a couple of
chances to get it right with 100 horses all starting at once. It was
the most dangerous thing to do. And I didnt realize  and maybe
some of the riders didnt, either  but the line of horses in
front could see where they were going, but anyone after that was
blind. They couldnt keep their eyes open. Even if they could see
through the dust, they were pelted with so much. After the first
take, we rode down there on our quads; you know, Im not a horse
guy. Youd see a trail of, you know, head scarves and all the
stuff that had been knocked off the horses; you can ever see some of
it in the film if you look closely, but it was amazing. And if you
think about it, horses dont ever really do that. They dont
ride at full speed in that tight of formation. Its brutal. Guys
were cut and bruised and, and we only did a couple of takes.

Viggo
has a reputation, especially on Lord of the Rings, for getting
really lost in his role. How much did he do that on Hidalgo?

He did it, I think, to the same degree. He went home in his
wardrobe, you know, he camped in the desert with the horses and the
wranglers, and I was amazed when I did see the Lord of the Rings
films that not only did it seem like I mean, it was obviously a
different character, but it seemed like a different person playing
the different characters. He made a complete transformation. Now I
know I him as Viggo Mortensen playing Frank T. Hopkins. When he
takes on his next role, whatever that is, hell probably become
unrecognizable to me. Hell make another transformation. But yeah,
he really got into it. Hes also completely devoted to the
project. He was always there. We worked him a lot more than we
should have. He never complained, and he was there dawn to dusk and
beyond. Hes largely responsible for making that whole aspect of
this really work. Hes really amazing.

Are
you going to be directing Jurassic Park Part 4?

Nobodys made me an offer yet. I know that theres a
story now thats being written that is, that takes the franchise
in a completely different direction  away from the island and
away from the T-Rex and all this. Its a great story, and I sort
of hope Spielberg will direct it.